


Crimson Roses

by lesslovelythings



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Anxious Keith (Voltron), Aphrodisiacs, Blood Drinking, Concussions, Depression, Discrimination, Ex-hunter Shiro (Voltron), Friends to Lovers, Keith (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Nightmares, Orphan Shiro, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Serious Injuries, Slow Romance, Speciesism, Vampire Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-05-18 10:14:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14850842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesslovelythings/pseuds/lesslovelythings
Summary: Keith is a vampire, loved by none and hated by all. When the laboratory in which Keith is held is shut down, Shiro, an ex-hunter, agrees to keep him after the twenty-eighth amendment is repealed - in other words, vampires are one step closer to being treated as humans. Though only considered to be half of what a human is, Keith reveals he has much more depth than thought capable for vampires.When one obstacle comes after another, Keith finds himself regretting being allowed into society. It's better than the laboratory, but only barely. Speciesism and violence against vampires frighten him, and Shiro's small apartment becomes a little safe-haven in time, but Keith doubts it will be enough to protect him from a brewing storm.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Thank you for reading! This chapter may be a bit confusing and/or weird, but please have patience, as all will be explained in time. I've always loved vampire fics, and I am a voltron fan, so why not mash them together? (Chapters will be approximately 2000-3000 words long, with POV or scene changes. I literally cannot write long chapters.)

“Specimen 006 is ready. Running diagnostics now.”

 

_Click._

 

“All activators, ready. Inject virus now.”

 

_Click. Click._

 

Keith gasped as the needle plunged into his arm. It hurt for a fraction of a second before the syringe pulled away, leaving a stinging feeling crawling up his arm.

 

“Virus injected. Waiting period started.”

 

_Click. Click. Click. Click._

Keith squeezed his eyes shut. The clicking sound of the machine against his skull was nearly enough to drive him mad, but he knew better than to fight against the machine.

 

“Virus has entered the brain. On standby for vaccine to activate.”

 

Keith gritted his teeth as the effects of the virus began to take their toll on his body. Heat spread through his body like a wildfire and he twisted in the binds as sharp pain traveled through his veins.

 

“Vaccine activated.”

 

Dots blurred Keith’s vision and he felt like he was choking, unable to breath, unable to do anything about the pain overwhelming his body. Then suddenly, his vision cleared and the pain receded.

 

“Vaccine successful. Test 47 completed. Moving to cool-down period.”

 

Keith’s breaths gradually slowed as his body fought against the now-retreating virus, and he graciously accepted a straw for water from the assistant researcher. The assistant hadn’t been at the lab very long – two weeks at the most. He was kinder than the other researchers… that, or he simply hadn’t been emotionally hardened yet.

 

“Mcclain,” the lead researcher said, voice low. “Take a blood sample from 006 and send a copy of the report to me. Sedate 006 and take him back to his cell.”

 

“Yes sir,” the assistant replied. Keith didn’t flinch as a fresh needle pierced his skin, but as bright crimson blood started the fill the vial, he could feel his body reacting. His pupils dilated and his throat suddenly felt very dry; he pressed his fangs against his bottom lip, trying to distract himself from the sight of fresh blood. He hadn’t been able to drink human blood in _so long_ …

 

And just like that, it was over, and Keith forced himself to look away from the droplets of blood forming on his arm. The assistant picked up a different syringe, filled with the sedation drug, and injected it into Keith’s shoulder.

 

“Time to go to sleepytown,” the assistant muttered, and Keith closed his eyes.

 

* * *

 

Scuttling on the floor made Keith snap awake. Live food? Why now?

 

The rabbit paused and scented the air, whiskers quivering and pose uncertain. White fur covered its body, undoubtedly soft, and Keith glared at the little camera in the corner of his cell. They didn’t usually give out live food; most of the time, it was pre-killed – frozen or throat slit.

 

Keith sat up and swiveled to watch the rabbit. It had decided it wasn’t in any imminent danger and now hopped around the cell, blissfully unaware of Keith’s presence. Slowly, he stood up and approached the rabbit, hands outstretched.

 

The fur was soft. As Keith held the rabbit, its heart beating fast, he considered not killing it. It could be his company for a few hours, before the researchers came and took it away, or punished him for not eating. His stomach growled and he held the rabbit tightly, trying to resist the ravenous feelings running through his veins. His fangs shifted forward and he opened his mouth slightly; the rabbit began to squirm, sensing danger, and Keith stopped fighting.

 

A minute later, warm blood snaked down his arms, dripping from his elbows onto the floor. The rest of it, besides the blood that surrounded his lips, resided in his mouth, throat, and stomach, warm and contenting, but already pangs of guilt washed over him from killing the little creature. He stared at the corpse in his hands, bloodied and broken, and tossed it to the corner of his cell in disgust.

 

“That was quick,” a voice said from outside his cell. Keith slowly turned around. The assistant researcher stood with his arms crossed, staring at Keith. “I knew you blood-suckers were crazy, but not to this extent.”

 

Keith wiped his mouth with his shirt. “Fuck off.”

 

The assistant – Mcclain, was it? – raised an eyebrow. “Where did you learn to talk like that?”

 

“Ask your boss,” Keith said icily. “Now go away.”

 

“Hmph.” Mcclain scowled at him. “I thought you’d want to know that the twenty-eighth amendment is about to be repealed.”

 

Keith blinked. Had he heard right?

 

“We humans are tired of dealing with you guys and your ‘rights’, so the twenty-eighth amendment is being repealed and then replaced. You still won’t be citizens, but you’ll be leaving the lab.”

 

“Leaving the lab?” Keith asked. It sounded… fishy. Mcclain could be lying, or not telling the whole truth. “On what conditions?”

 

“I’m not sure of everything, but I _do_ know that you won’t be allowed out of your household without a human present.” Mcclain sighed and uncrossed his arms to reach into his pocket. “I also know that a sort-of limiter has been designed to make sure you don’t attack any humans.”

 

He revealed his cell phone and showed Keith a picture of the news through the glass door of the cell.

 

“You weren’t lying,” Keith murmured. If this was true, and he could leave the lab… it meant he wouldn’t be a test subject anymore. It would mean he would have enough _rights_ to be protected from experimentation. And then, in the far future, he could possibly have the _same_ rights as the humans – he could be living as their equal.

 

“I don’t know how they’ll deal with you guys, because you’re from the lab, but I can imagine they’ll read through all the tests to decide if they can let you into society or not.”

 

“Or not?” Keith thought out loud. He already knew the answer.

 

“Put down.”

 

Two words that cut like a knife. Keith swallowed and looked again at Mcclain’s phone. _Put down._ Like a dog. Like something easily replaceable.

 

Mcclain didn’t add anything, but simply turned and started walking away. Keith watched him disappear around a corner before looking at his bloodstained hands. _Put down_.

 

Keith realized too late that he was shaking and sunk to his knees. If the amendment was replaced, he could die. If the amendment wasn’t replaced, he could die. If he lived, it would be a short life. As if his eighteen years of suffering wasn’t enough. Keith had never known his mother, but knew his father, who had abandoned him when he was a toddler. He lived in a sort-of sanctuary for several years before it was shut down, and then was taken in by the lab and studied for five years before the virus testing began. _Put down._

 

They wouldn’t make it painful. It would be like falling asleep.

 

_Put down._

 

Euthanasia wouldn’t hurt, right?

 

Keith stood, swaying as blood rushed to his head. He crossed the cell to his bed – a flat cushion equipped with a blanket – and wiped his hands on his pants before sitting.

 

He stared at the tiny photograph taped to the wall. It was a blurry picture of himself as a child, standing next to an old man in a wheelchair. He was smiling, fangs short and not fully grown in yet, and he wore summer clothes and no shoes. Of course, the other children at the sanctuary were elsewhere when the picture was taken, and Keith wished he had a picture of all of them together, but it was too late for that now.

 

He only saw one of those children after the researchers seized them. Once, walking through a corridor, he recognized a girl that the researchers were taking in the opposite direction. She wore an eyepatch and her arms were both in casts. He never saw her again after that.

 

Keith fell onto his side, grabbed the blanket, and wrapped it around himself before burying his face into its softness and sighing. _Put down._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter zwei... Thankfully a bit longer than the previous chapter. World Info: In this world, vampires are 'lesser' than humans and are treated as such. The setting is the United States in modern day, though, an alternate timeline where vampires exist. Other countries have different 'rules' for dealing with vampires.

“It passed,” Mcclain said.

 

Keith opened an eye, recalling their conversation the day before.

 

“Judges are going to decide what will happen next,” Mcclain continued. He didn’t seem smug, nor did he smile. Unlike yesterday. “Iverson says you’ll be cleaned before being introduced to the judges. They’ll decide what to do with you.”

 

And, like Mcclain said, time rolled forward. Keith reflected on this as freezing cold water poured over his skin.

 

“Keep your arms up, 006.”

 

He lifted his arms and water sprayed his sides. The rabbit blood washed off with ease, despite having dried, and Keith felt thankful that it would only stain his clothes. How would he be presented to the judges? Probably in the lab clothes. Trousers and a shirt. It made sense. He wondered how many judges there would be, and if the public would be allowed to view.

 

Keith glanced at his arm. Dozens of puncture dots lined his skin, some already darkening to faded purple. Would the judges see this? Would they look at his fangs, too, and decide how much of a threat he was?

 

The water slowed to a stop and Keith looked to the researcher for an explanation.

 

“Shampoo.”

 

The researcher handed him a small bottle. Keith stared at the pink container – 2-In-1 Shampoo and Conditioner, No Tears! – before he popped open the top and poured a generous amount onto his palm. He handed the bottle back to the researcher and began washing the shampoo into his hair, sighing at the concept of actually being clean. After a minute, the water turned back on, and Keith hurried to finish cleaning himself before the researcher deemed him done.

 

Smelling like flowers, he rinsed the shampoo off his skin one final time before the water cut off for good. Catching the towel that was thrown at him, he quickly dried himself and attempted to dry his hair before the researcher herded him out of the shower room.

 

“Put this on,” the researcher said, handing him red scrubs. Keith took the clothes and threw them on, and winced as a comb pulled through his knotted hair. “Stay still.”

 

He clenched his teeth as the comb worked through a particularly difficult knot. Within a minute, it was over, and he found himself being led into another room, flanked by guards, and then into a mostly empty room. White walls, white floors, and a one-way mirror wall that worked against him.

 

“This is your judging,” a female voice rang out. Keith looked around for where the voice had come from – small cameras and speakers were fixed to each upper corner. “We will ask you a few questions to get started. First question. What is your identification code?”

 

“006,” Keith replied, mouth dry.

 

“Second question. What name do you go by?”

 

“Keith?”

 

The voice chuckled. “You don’t sound very sure, but that’s fine. Third question. Do you have any living family that you are aware of, whether they be in this facility or not?”

 

“…No.” _My dad left me_ , he wanted to say. But that would open a whole other aspect of his life he didn’t want to share.

 

“I see. Thank you for answering.”

 

There was a _click_ and then silence. Keith stood, waiting, and a few minutes dragged past before the voice spoke again.

 

“Will you show us your left arm?”

 

Keith pulled up his sleeve and presented the bruises to the judges.

 

“Thank you. Can you describe the most recent time you were injected with a foreign substance?”

 

“Yesterday,” he said, fighting to keep his voice from shaking. “The virus made my body feel really hot. It hurt, too, but it only lasted a minute before the vaccine started working.”

 

“Thank you. You may cover your arm now.”

 

 _Click._ More silence.

 

It lasted longer than the first silence, and Keith shuffled in his spot. He wanted to sit down but didn’t exactly want to be shot by one of the guards.

 

“006, Keith, we have made our decision.”

 

Keith swallowed nervously.

 

“We have judged that you are fit to live in society accompanied by one of our trained owners.”

 

He sighed in relief. So he wouldn’t be killed, after all.

 

“You will be assigned to one of our recommended owners and will be expected to follow them, loyally and obediently, until they deem you able to live in a normal setting. From there, you will move in with a vampire-friendly family. Do you understand?”

 

“Yes,” Keith said with a nod.

 

“Good. We will fit you with a collar now.”

 

A different door than the one they’d entered from opened, and a tall, silver haired woman strode into the room, holding what looked to be a red ribbon. With closer inspection he realized that it wasn’t terribly different from a thin dog collar, and he flinched slightly as the woman held it up in front of him.

 

“This will be your collar,” the woman said, and he recognized her as the same speaker who had been talking with him through the speakers. “Lift your chin for me – yes, like that. I’ll clasp it here and, voila!”

 

He touched the collar tentatively. It was tight enough to be considered a choker but not too tight. He could still breathe normally, which was good.

 

The woman held up a small remote. “This will control the collar. I don’t expect it to ever have to be used, but it _is_ a safety precaution. It was one of the agreements met for allowing vampires to live alongside humans.”

 

Keith stayed quiet. A shock collar. The price he would pay for limited freedoms was a shock collar.

 

“Of course, the first human you will stay with is trained, so we don’t expect this to be used,” she added. “It’s mostly for other people to understand that you can’t and won’t attack them. A lot of people are afraid of vampires, but the person you will be staying with isn’t. You should be fine.”

 

It wasn’t very reassuring, but Keith knew he would acquiesce anyway. His only choice was to agree.

 

“Are you ready to go?” the woman asked. “My name is Allura, by the way. I work with human-vampire relations.”

 

“Oh.” Keith didn’t know what he had expected. “Yes. Um, I have something in my room that I would like to have – it’s a photograph.”

 

“I’ll send someone to collect it,” Allura said. She offered him a smile. “We should get you home before it gets too hectic outside.”

 

 _Hectic?_ Keith wondered what she could be talking about. Instead of asking, he simply nodded, and followed her to the same door he had come through. They passed familiar hallways, but then went down a set of doors Keith didn’t recognize and rounded a corner I to a wide room with a glass ceiling, couches, and a front desk. The outside the building, Keith could see through the front windows. People screamed and yelled and held signs, uncontrollably furious, and Keith stopped walking.

 

“What is this?” he found himself asking, staring at the outside. A car waited right outside the doors, flanked by officers. “Why are they angry?”

 

“They didn’t want the twenty-eighth amendment to be replaced,” Allura said quietly. “They don’t want vampires to have a place in society. They don’t believe in the similarities between vampires and humans. They are angry that the vampires here are being released.”

 

The static of a radio brought Keith’s attention to the officers beside him. They carried weapons. No one would attack them, right?

 

“We need to go.” Allura started forward at a brisk pace and Keith ran to catch up with her. All at once, the front doors opened, and the muffled screams of the mob pierced the air clearly. Keith covered his ears and practically leapt into the car beside Allura, trying not to elbow her, and the door slammed closed behind him. Immediately, the driver started forward, carefully navigating through the river of people, and Keith squeezed his eyes shut. The people out there would _kill_ him if they could. They were so angry, so furious at him for something he couldn’t help but be.

 

“Keith, we’re on the main road now,” Allura said gently. He glanced at her, and then looked outside the window. The world flew by so quickly, there was so much _green_ , and thoughts of the crowd retreated to the back of his mind. “We’re going to your assigned human guardian’s condo. He’s already been contacted and is expecting you.”

 

His human guardian. It seemed odd, to have a guardian, but he supposed it wouldn’t be unlike when he was a child. He’d never known a time where he lived without a human counterpart.

 

* * *

 

 

Shiro jumped when the doorbell rang. He knew it was going to ring, but it surprised him regardless.

 

“Hi, Allura,” he said, opening the door. Right behind her, wearing all red, was the vampire.

 

“Hello, Shiro,” she replied, happy to exchange formalities. “This is Keith.”

 

The vampire peeked through the doorway, scenting the air and staring at Shiro’s home. He didn’t seem _afraid_ , but rather, cautious.

 

“Keith, this is Shiro,” Allura said, trying to get the vampire’s attention. He looked up at her, then looked at Shiro. “He’ll be your guardian.”

 

The vampire slowly held out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

 

Shiro shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, too. Come on inside.”

 

Keith glanced back at Allura before stepping through the doorway. Shiro watched the vampire as he investigated the couch, then the tv; it seemed like he was trying very hard to take in everything and make sure it was _safe_.

 

“Here’s the remote,” Allura whispered, handing him the small piece of plastic. “I hope you never have to use it.”

 

Shiro slipped the remote into his pocket. “Thank you. Does he have anything else coming?”

 

“A photo,” she replied, voice still hushed. “I don’t know when they’ll be able to get it to me… It’ll probably take a few days.”

 

“Alright.” Shiro watched Keith as he wandered into the kitchen, opening each cabinet to see what was inside. “Does he need any meds?”

 

“What you have should suffice. Also, the blood – give it to him as he needs it.” Allura waved at Keith, who saw and paused in his searching. “Goodbye, Keith. I’ll see you in a few days, okay?”

 

He nodded and Allura quickly dismissed herself. Shiro closed the door behind her before turning to see what Keith was doing.

 

“What is all this for?” Keith asked, staring into the refrigerator. Packets of deep red blood filled the bottom drawer, and Keith’s hand wavered over the drawer handle.

 

“It’s for you,” Shiro said. Keith’s eyes widened briefly before narrowing.

 

“Is it rabbit blood?”

 

“No.” Shiro approached him and Keith took a step back, prompting Shiro to stay where he was. “It’s synthetic human blood.”

 

“Synthetic blood?” Keith shook his head. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

 

“It was only developed a few months ago,” Shiro said carefully. He didn’t want to tell Keith that the lab he had been held at refused to pay for the synthetic blood, nor did he want Keith to know that it took hundreds of samples to create the correct artificial taste and texture. Some of the samples, Shiro knew, had come from himself.

 

Keith opened the drawer and took out one of the packets and examined it for a solid minute before sinking his fangs into the soft, malleable plastic. Shiro watched in fascination as he quickly drained the bag, using his fangs to widen the holes and eagerly drinking the crimson liquid. It was a matter of seconds before he finished, and he crumpled the packet up and sighed.

 

“How was it?” Shiro asked curiously.

 

Keith licked his lips. “Surprisingly good.”

 

 _Good_ , Shiro thought. It meant that the project had worked.

 

Keith’s gaze wandered to the hallway and he started forward, obviously wanting to explore more of the apartment.

 

“Your bedroom is the one on the left,” Shiro said, hoping that the vampire would be pleased with the setup. He kept the guest bedroom tidy despite the lack of guests, and even before he knew Keith was staying with him, he’d prepared a bed and a dresser, along with some more furniture that made the room more welcoming.

 

He watched Keith dart inside the room, only to see him emerge seconds later with a frown written across his face.

 

“There’s a window.”

 

“Yes?” Shiro said, puzzled.

 

“It _opens._ ”

 

“It does,” Shiro agreed, still unsure of why Keith was concerned.

 

“I haven’t had that before,” Keith said. “They always had locks.”

 

“Oh.”

 

A terribly awkward pause.

 

“Hmph.” Keith turned around and walked back into his room, closing the door behind him.

 

Shiro sighed and sent Allura a message on his phone. _He’s… interesting._

 

Of course, Allura responded immediately. _He hasn’t shown any aggression, has he?_

_No._

_Good! I’m going to send some clothes in through the mail; don’t take him outside until things die down. People are still angry at the whole thing. I don’t want either of you to get hurt._

 

Shiro read the last message again. He knew it shouldn’t be true, but there really _were_ some vicious people out there, people who wouldn’t hesitate to attack himself or Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Keith, my poor boy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clear some things up: In this work, vampires and humans are very similar except for diet and evolutionary adaptation to fit said diet. Vampires are not immortal; like humans, they age and can be killed. However, due to some past events /that will eventually be discussed/, vampires are treated much differently than humans.

“Shiro.”

 

Shiro glanced up from the tv. Keith stood in the hallway, still in his red scrubs.

 

“May I open the window?”

 

“Yes, Keith. You don’t need to ask for things like that.” Shiro grabbed the tv remote and pressed the power button, shutting off the screen. He stretched and stood up, wordlessly followed Keith back into his bedroom, and helped Keith pull the bottom of the window up. The past few hours after the sun set had allowed the air to cool sufficiently, so Shiro had no issues with letting the outside air into the apartment. That aside, he didn’t expect Keith to feel as if he needed to ask permission for things like that.

 

Keith stared outside, taking in the sunset, the brick apartments, the whispers of wind through the trees… He closed his eyes briefly before looking back at Shiro.

 

“Why are they letting me be with people?” Keith asked quietly. It seemed to be a rhetorical question, so Shiro didn’t reply right away, and Keith murmured something about immunizations beneath his breath.

 

“I’ve been vaccinated for anything contagious you could be carrying,” Shiro said, pulling the desk chair out and sitting. “Most things being tested on you are more… they don’t spread as easily but are still deadly. What they were doing in there was messed up, regardless of if it ‘helped science’ or not.”

 

“I would like to think that _something_ about it helped,” Keith said bitterly. “There wasn’t any benefit to _us_ from being tested on. I’m not a fucking lab rat.”

 

Shiro drew in a breath. “No, you aren’t a lab rat. Do you know what’s happened to the other vampires, the ones that weren’t in the lab?”

 

“Killed?” Keith assumed, toned laced with venom.

 

“They were sent to camps. Labor camps.”

 

Keith blinked. “We can’t… How did they get blood?”

 

“They didn’t,” Shiro said grimly, knowing what happened to starved vampires.

 

Keith closed the window. “I don’t want to think about that. I don’t want to.”

 

“That’s okay.” Shiro stood and was about to leave when Keith’s voice interrupted the silence.

 

“Wait. I have a question.”

 

Shiro stopped in the doorway and glanced back at Keith. The vampire’s brow furrowed and he opened his mouth to speak.

 

“Why do you help vampires?”

 

“Because I believe it isn’t wrong to help them,” Shiro replied, having said it many times before. He wanted to make sure Keith knew he was being truthful about this – it would help Keith learn to trust him. “Vampires aren’t too different from humans. Both our ancestors are humans, vampires simply happen to be a different species. But you think like we do, and you feel like we do, and I think that’s enough to validate treating you like humans.”

 

“Descendants of Cain,” Keith murmured. Shiro frowned at the words – he’d never heard a vampire bring up Cain willingly, nor did he know much about the legend. How much did Keith know?

 

“Who is Cain?” Shiro asked, pretending he didn’t know a thing about Cain. “What does he have to do with vampires?”

 

Keith sat on the bed and crossed his arms, scowling. “Do you really not know? I thought you, of all people, would know about this. Cain is the vampire ancestor, cursed by God to hunt and drink blood and stuff. Because he was sinful, all who came from Cain have the curse as well. I thought this was basic knowledge.”

 

“Not to most people, myself included,” Shiro said truthfully, and Keith’s scowl deepened.

 

“You mean they don’t know? Why don’t they know?”

 

Shiro stepped back inside the bedroom. How could he explain to Keith that after the Third Great War, almost all progress made by vampires had been erased? That all the rights of vampires had been taken? That the world had been convinced of vampires’ inferiority? Vampires couldn’t even go outside unescorted. Or vote. Or go to school. They ‘couldn’t be trusted’ with regular civilians, so the government issued the shock collar law. Territories in the midwest were sites for huge labor camps, not just in the States, but in other countries as well, where vampires were forced to feed on animals – and each other – for blood, to pause the thirst long enough to think. The whole world was against vampires, and Keith only had the slightest idea.

 

“There’s a lot people don’t know,” Shiro said finally. “Most people don’t realize that vampires and humans can coexist. And most people either despise vampires or are scared of them, or both.”

 

“But you’re not like that. And Allura’s not like that.” Keith uncrossed his arms and fell onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. “I don’t understand.”

 

Shiro sighed. “I don’t understand either. It’s just… It’s something we have to deal with. We can’t simply change how people think. Some people are too stuck in their mindset to consider changing their opinions.”

 

Keith’s fingertips brushed against his collar. It was against the law to remove the collar – any vampire without a collar would be killed and their human owner would be fined. It was an easy way to get vampires killed, Shiro knew, but it was one of the sacrifices made to help vampires. Without it, Keith would still be at the laboratory, still being injected with viruses for the sake of human knowledge. It was a twisted situation, and Shiro didn’t know how deeply Keith had been effected by the turmoils in his life.

 

“I think I’m going to go to sleep,” Keith said quietly, sitting up and crawling under the covers before flopping onto his side with a sigh. “Will you wake me up in the morning?”

 

“Yes, of course,” Shiro replied. He checked his watch – it was already eleven o’clock, so he should probably get to sleep as well. “Do you want your door closed?”

 

“Yes, thank you.”

 

Shiro turned out the light and closed the door before stepping across the hallway to his own bedroom. His phone glowed on his bed, most likely messages from Allura, and he checked his phone briefly.

 

_Hi Shiro! Has Keith tried any of our synthetic blood yet? Let me know if he likes it and I’ll drop off more._

_Did Keith bring up anything in conversation that we could use for our case?_

_Does silence mean yes or no_

Shiro scrolled through the messages, hastily texting a reply so Allura wouldn’t worry. _Sorry for late response. He likes the blood. He mentioned something about ‘Cain’ and seems to know more than I do about the legend, however, he doesn’t know much about the war or its effects on vampiric society._

She didn’t respond right away, but Shiro wasn’t surprised. If she wasn’t asleep, she was likely busy with something else, like navigating with the other vampires from the lab or researching ways to get around the law to allow vampires to gain more rights. Allura tended to be a very busy person. At least she had Coran to help her manage things.

 

Shiro tossed his phone onto his bed and walked into the bathroom, pulling off his shirt before grabbing his toothbrush from beside the sink. He’d given Keith a small toiletry kit but knew that the vampire would eventually need more than what the kit provided.

 

Looking at his reflection in the mirror, Shiro traced one of the scars on his chest. Whatever vampires were, they couldn’t be as cruel as humans.

 

After brushing his teeth and changing into his pajamas, Shiro checked his phone one last time before turning off the lights. It showed Allura was typing, and when she finally sent the message, Shiro wished he hadn’t seen it.

 

_Uncovered some more information about Keith – before he was at the laboratory. We need to talk about it tomorrow morning, without him present. Goodnight._

 

* * *

 

 

In his dream, Keith was back at the laboratory.

 

Mcclain was there.

 

Iverson was there.

 

And then a dozen or so people he didn’t recognize, all staring at him as he sat locked in a chair.

 

“Let me go!” Keith heard himself saying. “I haven’t done anything!”

 

“You’ve committed the worst crime,” one of the figures said, stepped forward. Keith inhaled sharply – there was something wrong with the person’s face – her eyes were sewn shut and her nose looked like it had been cut at the bridge. “You will pay for your sins, like our father.”

 

“What crime? What are you talking about?” Keith growled, hissing as the woman lifted her clawed hands to stroke his cheek with her nail.

 

“The worst crime,” she whispered. She grabbed his jaw and forced his mouth open, pressing her fingertips against his sharp fangs until they bled. Clucking her tongue, she wiped the blood across his cheek. “Yes, you are one of us.”

 

Keith snapped at her hand and she drew it away in time for him to miss.

 

“My, you are quite the specimen, 006.”

 

Keith froze. How did she know his laboratory number?

 

“You must be wondering how I know you, little one,” she said with a grin. Then she turned to the people behind her. “Set the wolves on him.”

 

“Wait! What are you talking about?” Keith twisted around, eyes wide, as a door behind him opened. A long, long corridor, pitch black, with pairs of yellow orbs that glowed in a way all too similar to his own… howls reached his ears and he whipped back around to face the woman, but everyone there had vanished. “What sin did I commit?! Tell me!”

 

Her laugh echoed through the room. The wolves grew closer and Keith desperately fought his restraints. The metal wasn’t going to give, the howls and yips grew closer, and he was going to die.

 

The first set of fangs sank into his throat, and he screamed.

 

“Keith!”

 

A voice cut through the air. It wasn’t the woman, it was someone else. He glanced around the room, searching for the owner of the voice, blood soaked down his chest.

 

“Keith! It’s okay, you can wake up now.”

 

Keith blinked. He was in Shiro’s guest bedroom. Someone was holding his wrists tightly and his neck tingled, and he slumped forward, suddenly exhausted.

 

“There we go,” Shiro said, releasing his wrists. “It’s okay, you just had a bad dream. It’s okay.”

 

His neck really felt strange. It almost hurt. Keith tentatively touched the skin before realizing that the room smelled like blood.

 

“Shiro – Shiro, what happened?” he asked, voice becoming more urgent. “Shiro?”

 

“You had a nightmare. You tried to claw your throat.” Shiro motioned to his neck and Keith glanced down. Fresh blood trickled down his neck and stained the scrubs, and no doubt the bedsheets as well. Shiro turned his head to the side and Keith’s eyes widened when he saw scratches across Shiro’s neck. “When I tried to wake you up, you freaked out and accidentally scratched me.”

 

“Oh fuck. I’m sorry.” Realization of what he’d done slowly sank it. _Put down._ “Shiro. Shiro, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

 

He could be killed for this.

 

Keith’s vision blurred and he swallowed. “I’m so sorry,” he choked, backing away from Shiro.

 

“It’s okay! Keith,” Shiro leaned forward. “Look, it was an accident. It’s okay.”

 

_No,_ he wanted to say. _It’s not okay._

 

“I’m sorry,” he said again. He wiped the tears from his eyes and refused to look at Shiro. He didn’t remember the last time he’d cried; of course, crying in front of someone was humiliating but not to the same degree as fearing death.

 

“It was an accident,” Shiro said firmly. “It’s not your fault.”

 

“It won’t happen again,” Keith mumbled. He wiped his face with his sleeves before looking up. “What time is it?”

 

“About five in the morning. Your screams woke me up.”

 

“I was screaming?” Keith asked incredulously.

 

“Yeah,” Shiro confirmed, clearing his throat. “We need to clean you up first. Come with me to the bathroom.”

 

Keith nodded and followed Shiro to the master bathroom, where he saw the wounds on his neck in the mirror, and he grimaced. It looked _bad_. Angry red streaks cut through his skin, and he didn’t doubt Shiro’s words for a second – it truly looked like he had tried to claw out his throat. Blood trickled down his chin to his collar, intercepting with his shirt, and he was suddenly reminded of how much it stung.

 

Shiro already rummaged through the bathroom closet, and he pulled out a first-aid kit and set it on the bathroom counter. The metal clasps were swiftly opened and Keith stared at the contents: bandages, gauze, needles, tape, and antibacterial ointment. Shiro grabbed a clean towel and held it under the faucet for a few seconds before handing it to Keith. “You should wipe off the blood.”

 

Keith gently cleaned himself with the towel, wincing at the fresh pain that accompanied him cleaning the wounds.

 

“Put this on it when you’re done,” Shiro said, opening up the bottle of ointment. “I’m getting you a clean shirt and bedsheets.”

 

Shiro placed the ointment next to the sink and left the bathroom. Spreading the medicine on his cuts, Keith hissed as the stinging worsened and he bit his lip to distract himself. Washing his hands when he finished proved to be a good idea – he scrubbed the dried blood out from under his nails and managed to get the rest of the blood off his skin before Shiro reappeared with a plain white tee shirt. Keith hastily stripped off his shirt, ignoring the slight flare of Shiro’s eyes when he saw the dark bruises on the inner part of Keith’s left arm.

 

Keith knew better than to say something. Allura and the judges had already seen it, and now Shiro had, and Shiro didn’t need to know anything else about it. He didn’t want Shiro to look at him with pity. Shiro had already been told everything he needed to know.

 

“Lift your chin up and I’ll wrap the bandages,” Shiro instructed, taking the gauze and tape out of the first-aid kit. Keith did as he said and tried to not pull away when Shiro lightly pressed the gauze to the wound, but Shiro was quick and within a few minutes, the bandage was complete. “There you go. I’m surprised the collar didn’t get torn off. Do you want anything to drink?”

 

Keith gently touched the bandage. He felt a little dizzy and really wanted one of the blood packets, but that would create another mess. “No, thank you.”

 

“Alright.” Shiro stared at him for a moment – Keith could almost see the gears turning in his head. “Are you going back to sleep?”

 

“Probably not,” Keith admitted. Though still exhausted, he didn’t want to have that nightmare again. It would be better to simply stay awake until morning.

 

“We could leave the doors open,” Shiro said. “That way, it’ll be easier for me to hear if you’re having another nightmare, and I could come wake you up again.”

 

Keith considered this. On one hand, he was tired beyond belief and desperately wanted to go back to sleep. On the other, he didn’t want Shiro to not get a good night’s rest because of him.

 

“Okay,” Keith mumbled, agreeing to Shiro’s idea.

 

Shiro yawned and then smiled. “Alright. Let’s go back to sleep.”

 

“Good night,” Keith said, lowering his head as he passed Shiro, and he walked back into the guest room before collapsing onto the bed. He couldn’t stop thinking about the nightmare, and though he didn’t believe in the powers of dreams, a tiny part of him felt that the nightmare was _important._ Something about it – the realism, the context – felt important. Not knowing what it was, though, made the nightmare a mystery, and Keith quickly fell into a deep sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

“He was part of a different project,” Allura said, her voice hushed so Keith wouldn’t hear. “I was looking through his files. There isn’t a lot on it.”

 

Shiro yawned and wondered why Allura _had_ to come over at eight that morning. He hadn’t had breakfast yet, and still wore pajamas.

 

“Shiro! Pay attention!” Allura whispered angrily. She cleared her throat. “It was called Eden. After more research, I discovered what the scientists behind Eden were trying to do – find a way to humanize vampires.”

 

“Why?” Shiro didn’t think that _anyone_ would want the vampires to be more human-like, but he could see some of the benefits: they would blend more into society and people would be less afraid of them.

 

“They wanted to raise these child vampires into obedient adults to use them as a form of warfare.” Allura looked at the pictures she held. “Who better to start a cross-species war than vampires who have adapted to human society? These vampires would only light the flames before being euthanized, and then it would give humans all the reasons they needed to attack vampires.”

 

Shiro took a moment to absorb everything she had said. “So… Keith was raised to be a sort of terrorist?”

 

“Yes and no – he wasn’t quite old enough to begin the specialized training, but he _was_ raised in that environment from infancy.” Allura thrummed her nails against the table. She was nervous. “The experiments that they performed... it’s why he’s less sensitive to sunlight than other vampires. I think – we might need to tell him that we know, just in case he decides to try anything.”

 

“What does that mean?” Shiro saw her glance at his neck and hurried to offer an explanation. “He didn’t drink from me. He had a nightmare, it was an accident.”

 

Allura put the photos down in front of Shiro and pointed to one of the children in the photograph. “He looks angry, doesn’t he? And in this one, he’s baring his fangs. I don’t want him to – I don’t know – somehow manipulate you. He was _trained_ for this. I’m regretting not researching more about this before releasing him from the lab.”

 

It took Shiro a moment to take in everything, but when he realized what she meant, a small surge of anger flooded him. “You mean you should’ve killed him because he’s a liability.”

 

“Not exactly,” Allura said with a sigh. “I just don’t want to have to be in a situation where I explain to the judges that we released a potential terrorist into society.”

 

“I’m not going to use the shock collar on him,” Shiro said sternly. “He hasn’t shown any aggression whatsoever.”

 

Allura collected the photographs and returned them to her folder. “Don’t let him manipulate you, Shiro. If anything happens, you have to _promise me_ that you will take whatever steps required to remove the threat – whether that be using the collar or turning him back in to us.”

 

Shiro didn’t want to promise. He didn’t want to use the inhumane shock collar, nor did he want to turn Keith in to be, most likely, euthanized. He didn’t want to yell at the vampire either – he didn’t want to create conflict from conflict. It was a delicate time for Keith; he was still learning about the human world and what it meant to be outside the laboratory. He’d already had one hell of a first night outside the laboratory, and Shiro didn’t want it to be repeated.

 

“Ah, good morning, Keith,” Allura said, noticing that Keith had appeared in the hallway outside his room. Keith covered his mouth to yawn and sleepily walked into the living room.

 

“Hello, Allura.” He sounded exhausted.

 

“You can sleep in later if you want to,” Shiro suggested.

 

Keith shook his head. “It’s okay. I’m awake now.” He walked towards the couch, getting ready to sit, before he realized something and blinked. “Why are you here, Allura?”

 

“I’m just checking in on you,” she responded. A half-lie. “I brought you some clothes and that photograph you wanted. Shiro told me about last night, so I want to see your neck, too.”

 

Keith approached her and showed her his neck so she could unwrap the bandages. Shiro watched as she examined the wounds, gently lifting the collar so she could see everything. “Keith, can you tell me about your dream?”

 

Keith stepped back, gaze darting from Allura to Shiro. He was anxious. Shiro knew he didn’t want to say anything that would endanger himself – no one would want that.

 

“Um. I was back at the lab,” he began, voice very quiet. “There were some people – humans – that I recognized. I was tied in a chair.”

 

“Do you know the names of those people?” Allura interrupted. Shiro hadn’t noticed she’d taken out a pen and paper; he was too busy watching Keith.

 

“Um. Iverson and Mcclain.” Keith stared at her hands as she wrote, seemingly waiting for her to finish writing before continuing. “There was a woman, too. Her face was… Her eyes were shut with thread and her nose was cut off. She was scary. She kept saying things to me.”

 

“What did she say?”

 

“She said I had committed a crime.” Keith swallowed and Shiro suddenly felt very uncomfortable with the situation. “She, um. She knew my code number. There were wolves in a hallway with reflective eyes, like mine. They attacked me. Then Shiro woke me up.”

 

“And you scratched him when he woke you up,” Allura muttered. “You are aware of the rules, aren’t you?”

 

Keith flinched. “It was an accident. I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

 

“I don’t want to have to take action, Keith,” she continued, and Shiro almost stopped her to defend the vampire. “You know you can’t do something like that, even if it was an accident. I’m going to give you the bag of clothes now – the photograph is in a ziplock bag on top of the clothes. You are dismissed.”

 

Trembling, Keith took the bag from Allura and stepped backwards towards the hallway before turning around and hurrying to his room, closing the door behind him. It locked with a click.

 

“Thanks,” Shiro said sarcastically. “He _really_ likes you now.”

 

Allura glared at him before standing. “I’m here for business. While it would be nice to be friendly with him, there are some things we simply cannot risk.”

 

Shiro hesitated to argue with her. On one hand, he didn’t want her to be too strict, but on the other hand, she _was_ his superior and could remove Keith from his household any time she wanted to.

 

“I’ll be going now,” she said, putting the folder with the photographs into a briefcase. “I’ll let you know if anything else comes up.”

 

Shiro grabbed the door for her when she left, and after checking his mailbox, locked the door and sighed. He wanted Keith to come out of his shell, not the opposite. The more he learned about the vampire, and the more the vampire trusted him, the easier things would be. If Keith could trust him completely, then it would prove that the vampire _could_ trust humans, and that’s exactly what Allura wanted, though she may have just caused a backwards step in the process.

 

He walked to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. The least he could do was offer Keith something to drink, and after last night, the vampire _had_ to be thirsty. Taking a blood packet, he ventured down the hall to Keith’s room and softly knocked on the door. “You okay?”

 

Silence.

 

“Can I come in?” he tried again.

 

A very small response. “Yes.”

 

The door unlocked with a click and Shiro pushed the door open. Keith had reached over from his bed to unlock the door and remained sitting, legs crossed, on top of the comforter. A blanket wrapped around Keith’s body prevented Shiro from seeing most of Keith’s face – only his eyes were visible, cautious and staring at the floor.

 

“I brought you this,” Shiro offered, holding up the synthetic blood. Keith slowly reached out from under the blanket and took the packet. “I know Allura can be intimidating sometimes, but she’s usually not like that. She’s under a lot of stress.”

 

“It’s okay.”

 

_You looked terrified_ , Shiro wanted to say. _You didn’t do anything wrong._

 

“You can stand up for yourself,” Shiro said. Keith glanced at him for a brief moment before returning his gaze to the floor. “You can argue.”

 

“It would be bad of me to fight,” Keith said, quietly disagreeing. “I wouldn’t do it.”

 

“Have you ever argued before? Or been in a fight?”

 

“I’ve argued with Mcclain,” Keith said. “I used to fight the researchers. Nothing changed, so I stopped.”

 

“They didn’t punish you?” Shiro asked, pressing for more information.

 

“Oh, they did,” Keith said venomously. “They would put me in solitary. I wouldn’t see or hear anyone for weeks. Sometimes they’d tie me to a chair and pour freezing water onto me, or they’d shave my hair, or both. They’ve done a lot – other than the injections, nothing to permanently harm my body.”

 

Shiro digested what he’d said. Water torture. Solitary confinement. It was amazing that Keith was still sane. “Do you… I mean, are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine. It’s over now.” Keith glanced at Shiro, his eyes wide. “Do humans ever do those things to other humans?”

 

It was a loaded question. Shiro didn’t particularly want _anyone_ to know about his past, especially Keith, as fragile as he was right now. Only Allura and a few others knew that he’d been living a violent life until a few years ago, when Allura had spoken to him when he was in containment and convinced him to help her cause. He didn’t regret joining her and leaving his old life behind… but the memories would always be there.

 

“They do,” Shiro said softly. He didn’t want to scare Keith.

 

“Is that how you got scars?” Keith asked. Shiro drew in a breath.

 

“Yes,” he said hesitantly. “I, um. I wasn’t a good person, Keith. I hurt people, and was hurt in return. I broke a lot of rules. I was… raised into that lifestyle, but I’m not a part of it anymore.”

 

“Did you hurt any of my kind?”

 

Shiro grimaced. He really didn’t want to tell Keith that yes, he had. He’d killed vampires. Probably the same number of humans he had killed, and during that time, he didn’t see vampire lives as valuable as human lives. No one in his group did. _Vampires were expendable._

 

“We… I was…” He struggled to find the right words. “I was a member of a very bad group of humans. Our orders were – and I would _never_ do this now – to track and kill vampires. We were hunters.”

 

Keith shifted away from him. “You’ve killed vampires.”

 

“Fuck. I mean, yes. Hell, Keith, every day I’ve regretted what I’ve done.” Anxiety began to build up within him; Keith probably hated him now, knowing what he’d done. “I would never do anything like that again. I would never hurt you, Keith.”

 

“Why did you kill them?” Keith asked quietly. “Did they deserve to die? Did they hurt _you_?”

 

“My parents were hunters. They were killed by a gang of vampires, but I was an infant, and I was spared.” Shiro swallowed, unsure of whether or not he should share his entire life story with Keith.

 

Keith stayed quiet for a few minutes. It took Shiro a moment to realize he was drinking from the blood packet, trying to be as silent as possible.

 

“I was recruited into my parents’ hunting group,” Shiro found himself saying. “I was with them until I turned twenty. There was a case where I… I was in the same situation as the vampires who’d killed my parents. There was a baby vampire and I… let her live. They weren’t pleased. That’s how I got most of my scars. I escaped from their holding after a few months and turned myself in, and I was institutionalized. Then Allura met me, and… Well, she and I had a very long talk.”

 

Keith hid his face in the blanket. He seemed to be thinking very hard about what Shiro had said, and Shiro didn’t know what Keith would say next.

 

“I think… I’m glad you’re honest,” Keith said finally. His hand slipped out from underneath the blanket to place the emptied blood packet on the bed. “I think honestly is important. Neither of us can change what happened in our pasts, so…”

 

His voice faltered.

 

“I’m sorry,” Shiro said automatically, picking up the packet and stepping towards the door. “I can go now if you want some time alone.”

 

“It’s okay.”

 

Shiro didn’t know if that meant he should stay or leave. “Should I–”

 

“You can stay.” Keith pulled the blanket off himself. “I don’t blame you for what happened.”

 

Keith flopped onto his side, staring at the window, and sighed. While he didn’t seem terribly upset by what he’d learned from Shiro, he didn’t seem at ease, either, and Shiro wondered what was going through his head. Was he going to just passively accept that Shiro had killed vampires? Or would he lash out? So far, it seemed the prior.

 

“I’ve never known a hunter before,” Keith said quietly, refusing to look at Shiro. “I’ve only heard about them. I wouldn’t choose to have an ex-hunter as a friend.”

 

Shiro blinked. Did Keith just call him a friend?

 

“I didn’t think I would ever meet one in person,” Keith continued, not realizing Shiro’s lingering shock. “But you aren’t that scary. If anything, you’re kind-of a dork, but that’s just my opinion, and you can kick me out if you want.”

 

Shiro frowned at the statement, ignoring the fact that Keith had called him a dork. “You want to leave?”

 

“If you want me to leave, then I want to leave,” Keith said, sounding annoyed. He grabbed the blanket and pulled it over his face before sighing again.

 

_What the…_ Shiro thought. What was Keith trying to do? Secondhand embarrassment made heat rise to Shiro’s cheeks. He really couldn’t figure out what Keith was trying to do. Sitting down on the end of the bed, he tried to pry Keith for an explanation. “Keith, why do you keep covering your face?”

 

“No reason.” A muffled reply. Shiro wasn’t convinced.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

* * *

 

No, Keith wasn’t sure. His heart pounded much faster than it usually did, and his skin felt hot, and he knew for certain his face was red. Why did he get so anxious around Shiro? Why was it only now that this occurred? He didn’t know what to make of it.

 

“Yeah,” he croaked. He heard Shiro’s stomach rumble and decided to take advantage of the situation. “Have you had breakfast yet?”

 

“No, not yet.” He heard Shiro say.

 

“You should get something to eat,” he said, hoping Shiro would take the bait and leave him to wallow in his confusion.

 

“Okay,” Shiro said. The bed creaked as Shiro stood up and Keith listened to his footsteps as he walked through the doorway and down the hall. Quickly, Keith leapt up and quietly closed and locked the door before sinking to the ground. What was _wrong_ with him? Why did he feel… so… so…

 

Keith bit his nail. He couldn’t find the word he was searching for, but it was something along the lines of “human-like”. He’d never seen another vampire act like how he was acting now – like an idiot. The other vampires were calm and collected, whereas he was, well, a walking disaster of emotion.

 

_Shit._

 

Keith stared at his bleeding fingertip. He’d accidentally nicked the top of his finger with one of his fangs. He needed to rewrap the bandages around his neck, too, but that would have to wait.

 

He licked the blood, the taste of metal springing into his mouth, and he wondered – What did Shiro’s blood taste like?

 

Keith shook his head to clear his thoughts. What was he thinking? He would never know what Shiro’s blood tasted like. It was beside the point. He had the artificial blood, and that was all he needed. Just because he _wanted_ to taste Shiro’s blood didn’t mean it was a _need_ , and he _needed_ to get himself together. Standing, he walked over to the window, thinking of a way to distract himself. He would stare out the window, looking at the world from above. People walked in the area below; it was a courtyard with grass and cobblestone walkways and benches and plants – trees and flowers and tropical-type shrubs. He hadn’t given it much thought before, but he wanted to _be_ down there, with the humans, doing everything that they could do.

 

But that was impossible. He was a vampire and didn’t have a place with the humans. Below the humans, yes, but not equal to them. Shiro, too, was automatically his superior because of the rules of human society. Keith was, and always would be, lesser.

 

Someone below caught his attention. A woman, and behind her, a lean, gold collared vampire. Keith blinked. What was one of his kind doing out in public with a human?

 

He watched as the pair received wary glances from the other people in the courtyard. The human leading didn’t seem fazed, but the vampire behind her hurried to stay close. They were both dressed very nicely, the human woman in a light pink petticoat and heels, and the female vampire wore a long grey trench coat and boots. Of course, someone approached them, obviously displeased at the presence of the vampire, but the woman shrugged it off, and they kept walking. Then someone grabbed the vampire’s shoulder and she stopped in her tracks. The pink woman whipped around, furious at the action, and began to argue with the man who held the vampire in place. Keith cracked open the window so he could hear what they were saying.

 

“Don’t you fucking dare,” the woman was saying. “Let her go, now. I’m here on business from Britain. I’m staying at the Embassy.”

 

“I don’t care where you’re from, but here, we don’t let _them_ out in public. Whatever you do in private – we don’t give a fuck.” His grip tightened on the vampire’s shoulder. “I won’t let you walk around with a vampire, especially one without a leash. There are _children_ here.”

 

“She’s never shown any aggression,” the woman said. She grabbed the man’s wrist and pried his hand off of the vampire, who stepped forward to hide behind her owner. “If she hurt anyone, I would put her down.”

 

Keith slammed the window shut. Listening in on their conversation hadn’t been a good distraction. It only made him feel guilty for something he had no control over. He couldn’t have chosen to be born a human. He didn’t ask to be a vampire.

 

Thoughts of his father surged forward from the corners of his mind, and Keith bit his nails. Fucking abandoned, like some stray. He barely remembered his father’s face but the memory of being dropped off at an orphanage was clear as daylight – of course, the orphanage had given him right to the sanctuary. He was three… no, maybe four years old. He could recall the sanctuary fairly well – it was similar to a cottage, home to young vampires, managed by adult humans. Harvested blood came infrequently, but they managed, somehow. Mealtimes were simple. Everything was simple. He remembered playing with other vampire children – they were taught human games, like hide-and-seek and tag, and the caretakers observed. The old doctor was always patient; he tended to their injuries if anyone got hurt and recorded their growth. In retrospect, he must have been a very, very nice man, but at the time, Keith didn’t appreciate the doctor as much as he should have.

 

Keith gently touched his neck, reminding himself that he needed to rewrap the bandages. Silently, he crossed his crossed his room and opened the door, looked down the hallway to see – no Shiro – and snuck across to Shiro’s room, and then to the bathroom, where he quickly found the first-aid kit. He looked in the mirror and grimaced before closing the door and searching through the kit for the antibacterial ointment. Finding it, he smiled in triumph and spread the medicine over his throat.

 

“Keith?”

 

He dropped the ointment in shock, spilling the medicine across the tiled bathroom floor. Scrambling to clean up, he grabbed a towel from the beneath the sink, threw it on the ground, and promptly slammed the back of his head into the granite countertop.

 

“ _Fucking hell_ ,” he cursed as tears sprang into his eyes. He rubbed the forming bruise, wincing, and he sniffled, trying to get rid of the tickling feeling in his nose.

 

The door opened. Shiro stood in the doorway, stared at him for a half second, and immediately crouched beside him. “Are you okay?”

 

Keith touched his nose. Why did it feel weird? A red dot appeared on the floor beneath him and he swayed.

 

“Keith?”

 

Shiro’s arm wrapped around him, holding him upright. It felt fuzzy. _He_ felt fuzzy. More red dots appeared and he felt Shiro’s hand tilt his head up.

 

“Shi-ro…”

 

“Hold on. Hold on.” He could hear Shiro saying. “You hit your head really hard. _Shit_.”

 

The world was spinning. Why? Keith could feel himself being moved, pressed against Shiro’s warm body, blood dripping from his nose. He stared at Shiro’s face as everything became blurry, and then at once, black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and good morning! Here is chapter 5, please enjoy.

Shiro held the vampire in his arms, fingers pressed against the side of his neck to check his pulse. He had no idea what had happened, only that Keith had bumped his head. The floor was slick with the ointment and blood and Shiro stayed kneeling, wanting to move Keith but not sure where to move him. He leaned back against the wall, holding Keith in his lap, and used toilet paper to try and wipe the blood away from Keith’s mouth and nose. Fuck, he leaves Keith alone for ten minutes and this is what happens?

 

“No…” Keith groaned. Shiro hoped he was coming back into consciousness. “No… Stop…”

 

Shiro froze at those words. Was Keith dreaming? Did he know where he was?

 

“Stop…” Keith weakly tried to push Shiro away, and Shiro ignored the fresh bloodstains on his shirt.

 

“Keith, it’s okay,” he murmured. “It’s me. It’s Shiro.”

 

“Stop… Please…” Keith’s brow furrowed and Shiro held the vampire tight against his body. “…hurts.”

 

“Shh, it’s okay.”

 

Keith’s eyelids fluttered and he let out a sigh before sticking his head into the curve of Shiro’s neck. Shiro tensed, feeling the touch of Keith’s teeth against his skin, and shifted Keith slightly to prevent the vampire from accessing his neck. The thought of _this is wrong_ flashed across his mind, and he shook his head, trying to push the thought away. It was okay. It was okay. It was okay.

 

“Shi-ro,” Keith mumbled, sighing deeply. He blinked and tried to lift his head, but Shiro held him still, not wanting Keith to accidentally hurt himself more.

 

“You hit your head really hard,” Shiro said, hoping Keith would understand. The vampire didn’t, and started to squirm. “Stay still. You’ll hurt your head more if you don’t stay still.”

 

Luckily, it seemed like Keith’s nosebleed had stopped, and Shiro cleaned Keith’s face again to remove the blood. It was then that he realized Keith was shaking, and he glanced into Keith’s eyes to find that they were squeezed shut.

 

“Keith?”

 

“I’m sorry.” Keith covered his face with his hands. “I’m sorry. I… the bathroom… it’s ruined.”

 

“No, it’s not,” Shiro said gently. “It can be cleaned.”

 

“I’m such a fuck up,” Keith said, his voice breaking. “I’m a fuck – up. I’m sorry.”

 

“You aren’t. If one of us is a fuck up, it’s me.”

 

“No.” Keith hiccuped and Shiro carefully pulled the vampire closer against his body, trying to keep him warm. “I’m. I’m a mistake.”

 

“You aren’t,” Shiro said, alarmed at the statement.

 

“My dad abandoned me.”

 

Shiro blinked. “You–”

 

“He _left me_. I was a toddler.” Keith took a shaky breath. “He left me at an orphanage. Then I went to the sanctuary.”

 

“It’s okay, Keith,” Shiro murmured. He had no clue why Keith told him this. It wasn’t in the paperwork he had received.

 

“He didn’t want me.” Keith’s shaky breaths had become muffled sobs. “He didn’t – _care._ ”

 

“I care,” Shiro said, honestly. He tended to be useless in situations like this. “I don’t want you to be hurt. I want you to be _you_ , and I want you to be happy.”

 

“You want me to become – more human-like,” Keith said, bitterness lacing his voice. “I – can’t. I’m a _vampire_.”

 

“It’s okay. I’m not close to any other vampires besides you, and I’ve learned a lot. It doesn’t matter that you’re a vampire. Humans and vampires are a lot more similar than we think.”

 

A low whine rose in Keith’s throat and, lifting his head, he opened his mouth to reveal his sharp canine teeth, brushing his fangs against Shiro’s throat. Shiro jumped in shock at the movement, anxiety pooling in his gut.

 

“Am I still human enough?” Keith asked, eyes wide open.

 

Shiro swallowed and Keith, seeing his movement, drew his fangs away.

 

“No,” Keith whispered. “I’m not. _I can never be like you_.”

 

And with those words, Keith shakily rose to his feet. Shiro could only watch as he stumbled out of the bathroom and into the hallway, and he heard Keith’s door lock.

 

Gingerly, he touched his neck. It tingled where Keith’s fangs had touched – good thing his skin hadn’t been punctured. Why? He felt like he’d fucked something up. Something irreversible.

 

His first instinct was to go to Keith and try and clear things up. It was a misunderstanding, he would argue. He wasn’t afraid of Keith – he would never be.

 

But a part of him said that vampires were dangerous, as a species, and he could be hurt by them. Physically and mentally, he _had_ been hurt by vampires, in the past, but he needed to remember that Keith _wouldn’t_ hurt him. He didn’t believe that Keith bore any ill will towards him, but now… Had Keith _threatened_ him? The thought was alarming. He assumed most people would have activated the shock collar, but then again, most people wouldn’t have willingly held a vampire that close to themselves.

 

Standing up, he decided to bring Keith a packet of blood. It might calm things down.

 

Walking to the kitchen, he was silent, lost in his thoughts. He needed a way to comfort Keith, to let him know that he wasn’t angry or upset. Bringing him something to drink wasn’t exactly going above-and-beyond, but Shiro didn’t know what else to do. Sighing, he opened the refrigerator and grabbed one of the packets. Would it taste better hot? He’d only ever seen vampires drink cooled blood. Most didn’t seem to have a preference about the temperature, and if they did, they didn’t voice their opinion. Shiro would ask him how he wanted the blood, and go from there.

 

“Hey, Keith,” Shiro said, standing outside the door. “Do you like blood that’s been heated?”

 

Keith took a while to answer, and for a moment, Shiro was afraid he’d passed out again.

 

“Shiro?” Keith said quietly. The door unlocked and cracked open. Shiro peered inside the room, trying to figure out what Keith was doing. He could see part of Keith’s face – he looked terrified, brow partly furrowed and eyes wide and if he were human, Shiro wouldn’t have hesitated to embrace him. Shiro immediately hated himself for that last thought; he was being hypocritical, having argued that vampires were extremely similar to humans but then acting afraid of them.

 

Shiro held out the packet of blood. “Here. I want to apologize but I – I don’t know how. I’m sorry.”

 

“Me too,” Keith murmured. He glanced at the packet in Shiro’s hands. “You said something about heating it?”

 

“Yeah, um.” Shiro struggled to form his question. “I was wondering if – because blood is hot if it’s fresh – if you would like it to be heated? Like, hot?”

 

“Um.” Keith frowned. “I don’t… know. I think fresh blood is good, better than the synthetic blood, but I don’t know how it would compare if the synthetic blood was heated.”

 

“Are you okay after hitting your head?” Shiro asked, changing the subject but also knowing that he needed to document what had happened.

 

Keith touched the back of his head and sighed. “My head is throbbing but I think I’ll be okay.”

 

“People don’t usually get nosebleeds from bumping their heads. You might have a concussion.”

 

“My nose used to bleed a lot,” Keith said, sounding argumentative. “Im not _not_ used to it. I mean, I hit my head really hard, but I think I’ll be fine.”

 

“Are you sure? You don’t want to see a doctor or anything?”

 

“ _No doctor_ ,” Keith said, closing his eyes for a moment and sighing. “No doctor. Please.”

 

He turned away from Shiro and crossed the room to sit on his bed. Shiro followed him inside, still holding the blood packet, and offered it to Keith once more. “Do you want this?”

 

“Yeah.” Keith took the packet and punctured the soft plastic with his fangs, not caring that Shiro watched. It was his second time watching Keith drink. The vampire drank cleanly, making sure to not spill any of the blood, and when he finished, he handed the crumpled packet to Shiro. Shiro’s fingertips brushed over the two holes where Keith’s fangs had pierced the plastic before he tossed the packet into the trashcan. Keith stared at Shiro’s hand. “Why did you do that?”

 

“Do what?”

 

“Touch the venom.”

 

“What are you talking about?” Shiro asked, alarmed. His fingers were starting to feel _really weird_ , almost like they were tingling.

 

“Shit, you really don’t know.” Keith cursed again under his breath. “You need to wash your hands. Now.”

 

Shiro did as he said and half-ran to the bathroom in his room, already uncomfortable because of the tingling. Grabbing the soap, he furiously scrubbed his hands, sighing in relief as the tingling began to disappear. Keith appeared in the doorway.

 

“You should know that we have venom. I thought you knew. I thought everyone knew. That’s why humans don’t let us drink from them.”

 

“I didn’t know,” Shiro muttered. “I thought it was because of… Actually, I have no idea what I thought.”

 

“It won’t kill you,” Keith promised, sounding desperate. “It just makes you very uncomfortable. Our fangs are partially hollow – that’s where the venom is stored. It can’t affect other vampires, only humans and animals. It’s more effective if it enters the bloodstream.”

 

“So when you bite, it goes into the bloodstream.” Shiro dried his hands on the towel before turning around to face Keith.

 

“Yes.” Keith stepped back. “All descendants of Cain have it. It’s part of our punishment.”

 

“Sounds like coevolution to me,” Shiro said beneath his breath. If humans and vampires had coevolved, it made sense. “Does it hurt you in any way?”

 

“No,” Keith said. “It’s just… it makes animals stop fighting when we bite them. It makes it easier for us to survive with the curse, only so we don’t die as a species.”

 

“So, theoretically, if you drank my blood, the venom would make me not fight you?”

 

“Yes, theoretically.” Keith wobbled suddenly and Shiro stepped forward to catch him. “I need to lay down.”

 

“Yeah, you do.” Shiro wrapped an arm around Keith and helped him get back to the other bedroom. He carefully assisted Keith onto the bed, hoping that Keith really didn’t need to see a doctor. He’d only hit his head because Shiro had surprised him when he was trying to apply the medicine to his neck, and Shiro, of course, felt guilty about the situation. He needed to treat the injury like a concussion, unless it was an actual fracture, which would be very bad.

 

“Shiro, are we friends?”

 

Shiro nodded. “Yeah, we are.” Keith was acting weird. Shiro didn’t know if it was because of the head injury or because he simply didn’t care anymore.

 

Keith rolled onto his side, staring at Shiro through hazy eyes, and Shiro grabbed the blanket and pulled it over Keith’s body, leaving his head and neck uncovered. He needed to call Allura and let her know what was going on.

 

Leaving Keith, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and had started to type her number when Keith said his name from his bedroom.

 

“Are you doing okay?” Shiro called back.

 

“…No.”

 

He put his phone away and peeped inside Keith’s room. “I might need to take you to the doctor, Keith. You aren’t doing well.”

 

“No doctor,” Keith said again. He still lay on his bed, in the exact same position Shiro left him in. “Just… can I go to sleep? Even if it’s daytime?”

 

Shiro blinked. “Yeah, you can go to sleep. Did you think you weren’t allowed to?”

 

“Maybe,” Keith muttered, and he yawned. He looked at Shiro with a very serious expression. “Will you stay here until I fall asleep?”

 

“Yeah, of course,” Shiro said, partially surprised by the question. He pulled the chair out from beneath Keith’s desk and sat down. “Is there anything you want to talk about?”

 

“No,” Keith responded. He blinked, slowly, and yawned again. “I’m just… wondering about the curse.”

 

“Cain?”

 

“M-hm. If he… If there was any way to get rid of it…” Keith rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Shiro didn’t quite know what Keith was implying, bringing up Cain, but a part of him was curious and wanted to know what Keith knew. “You know, I hate that I’m a vampire.”

 

“No, I didn’t know.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I thought you were indifferent.”

 

Keith wet his lips and glanced at Shiro from the corners of his eyes. “Most of us are. Most of us, I think, don’t care. We weren’t designed to care.”

 

“During and after the war,” Shiro said carefully, “a lot of vampires were separated from their families. I’ve seen pictures, Keith. You aren’t all emotionless. You are more like humans than you realize.”

 

“It’s not close enough.” Keith sighed and clenched his jaw. “If I had a choice… I would have rather been born a human.”

 

Shiro was sure any vampire would rather be human with the way history was playing out. Anyone would want to be at the top of the pyramid, rather than at the bottom. It was a very natural thought, especially for someone in Keith’s position; Shiro wasn’t sure if Keith realized this – that his wish to be human wasn’t a rare occurrence. Hated as they were, it was hard for vampires to do anything without being reprimanded or punished. They were made to be shameful of something they had no influence over.

 

“Don’t be ashamed for being what you are,” Shiro said quietly. The scar across the bridge of his nose tingled and he lifted his hand to his face to touch the old wound. It wasn’t vampires who had given him most of his scars – it was humans. Humans, who taught him to kill. Humans, who told him that no matter what he did, he would always return to doing what he was the best at, what he was _born_ for. Extermination.

 

Shiro began to say something else, changing the subject, when he realized Keith was asleep. Silently, he stood, and silently, he left Keith’s room, blinking back the sudden tears in his eyes, trying to repress the memories that had sprung forward with his words. He needed to calm down.

 

Walking to the kitchen, he opened a cupboard that hadn’t been touched in a very long time, grabbed a bottle of alcohol, and unscrewed the cap. It had been a long while since he’d last tasted tequila; usually, wine was more his type. Hell, how long had it been since the last time he was drunk?

 

Too long.

 

He set the bottle on the counter and opened the refrigerator to take out the orange juice. He probably shouldn’t be drinking, not with Keith here. He probably shouldn’t have volunteered to host the vampire in the first place. Though he hid it well, he really wasn’t emotionally ready enough to be the protector of someone, let alone a vampire.

 

Fuck. Where did he put the shotglasses? Shiro opened the cabinet where he thought they might be. Nope. Another cabinet, another disappointment. Giving up his search, Shiro took a glass from the cupboard and poured the tequila into it, gradually mixing in the orange juice. He took a sip, judged that it was good, and left the kitchen, still holding the bottle of tequila. Placing his drinks on the coffee table, he slumped onto the couch and sighed.

 

What had he gotten himself into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I've already finished the next chapter, so it should be posted soon. 
> 
> For those of you who read / have read my other VLD fanfic, Empire of Angels: I most likely will either a) never finish writing it, or b) end the fic in one more chapter. It's been very difficult to write, especially as it started as a work with original characters, only made into a fanfic because I thought it would be an interesting dynamic to see the VLD characters in. I've found it difficult to keep the characters "in character", due to the situations in the story, and I hope to do a better job in Crimson Roses.
> 
> Thank you.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Waited to post this, WHOOPS

Two days passed without much excitement. Keith stayed in his room for most of the day – he liked his room. He liked looking through the window, and opening the window to feel the sun’s rays soft on his skin. The pain from hitting his head – and the fuzziness – had mostly subsided, and he didn’t know about Shiro’s drinking, but remained blissfully unaware of the issue, and as he fell asleep on the third night, he wondered what Shiro did when he stayed up so late.

 

_“006.”_

Keith blinked. He was back in the chair, in his hellish dream, where the distorted woman tortured him. She wasn’t there, but a tall, older man stood a few yards away from where he sat, tied to the chair.

 

“Why now?” he asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

 

The man smiled, fangs long and obvious.

 

“Why am I back here?” Keith tried again. “Where is the woman?”

 

The man held a finger to his lips. “Be quiet, little one. The wolves are sleeping.”

 

Keith swallowed and turned his head to his left. The pack of wolves, all far larger than any wolf should be, lay sprawled out on the floor. The ear of the wolf closest to him twitched, and Keith held his breath, waiting for it to wake up, terrified for it to wake up.

 

“Why are you doing this?” Keith said, voice barely a whisper. “What have I done to you to make you do this to me?”

 

“You’ve sinned, little one.” The man walked towards him, and each clack of his shoes against the hard floor made Keith flinch. “Do you understand?”

 

The scene changed suddenly, and Keith found himself lying on a pile of pillows, hands tied behind his back and ankles tied apart, so he couldn’t close his legs. The man was there, holding a metal rod. The metal glowed, it was hot, almost molten, and the man waved the hottest end at Keith’s face.

 

“You are going to entertain me,” he said. Ordered. It wasn’t a question. He took a step towards Keith, smiled, and pressed the smoldering metal against the inside of Keith’s thigh.

 

Keith screamed. The man didn’t laugh, but he drew the rod away, still smiling, watching Keith shiver and cry as he was overwhelmed with pain.

 

“Stop crying,” the man said.

 

Keith bit his lip to silence his sobs, though it didn’t do much, and tears streaked down his cheeks.

 

“You aren’t going to cry. Do you understand?”

 

The man snapped his fingers, and the metal rod was replaced with a small bottle.

 

“You are going to entertain me,” he said again. He stepped forward and Keith tried to move back, but the pillows were like a wall behind him and he couldn’t use his legs or arms. He blinked furiously, trying to get rid of the tears, and the man was before him, chest bared, and Keith jolted when cold fingers brushed against his thighs, traveling north. “You’re a sinner, 006. This is your hell.”

 

The man kissed him forcefully, grabbing Keith’s hair with his other hand and yanking back to expose Keith’s neck. Keith gasped and struggled to fight the man, but he couldn’t do anything but squirm as the man spread the contents of the bottle between his thighs, reaching higher until Keith’s discomfort heightened.

 

“S-Stop,” he choked. “Please, stop.”

 

“Keith, it’s okay.”

 

“N-No.”

 

“I’ll protect you, okay?”

 

Keith whimpered, a pathetic sound.

 

“You’re having a nightmare again. It’s time to wake up, Keith.”

 

“Sh-iro?”

 

He blinked. Then blinked again, before taking in his surroundings. He wasn’t with the man, he was lying in his bed, in his room. It had been a dream. He was safe.

 

Shiro, cheeks flushed, leaned over him, attentively trying to make sure that he was awake and hadn’t hurt himself again. For a moment, Keith was tempted to try and hug Shiro, for warmth, of course, and to thank him for interrupting the nightmare. He quickly decided that it was out of line for him to do so, and instead, simply lay in bed, trying to calm his shaking breaths and quivering body.

 

“I heard you from my room,” Shiro said, slowly leaning back. “I wanted to… make sure you didn’t hurt yourself again.”

 

“Thank you,” Keith said gratefully. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. These nightmares needed to stop.

 

“It’s two in the morning,” Shiro mumbled. The air around him smelled like alcohol. Or was it his breath? “I’m. Going back to sleep. Will you be okay?”

 

“Are you drunk?” Keith asked, before he could stop himself.

 

Shiro blinked, slowly. “I mean… not hammered, but… yes? I’m, um. Coping.”

 

Keith understood. Shiro was stressed, and this is what Shiro did to relieve that stress. Keith dealt with his stress in the laboratory by shutting down – he wasn’t exactly able to ‘get drunk’ due to his vampire body, so the next best thing, in his opinion, was to simply lay on his cot. And lay. And lay. Until Mcclain came to bother him, until Iverson came to get samples from him. He would fade in and out of consciousness, sometimes asleep, most of the time barely awake, until something pulled him from his torpor state.

 

Shiro’s coping, though, concerned Keith. Was he supposed to be drinking? Shouldn’t he be alert at all times because of the vampire’s presence? Did he… usually drink this much? Or did it happen infrequently? Or not at all? And then – What would Allura think of this?

 

“Does Allura know?”

 

Shiro shook his head. “No. She… knows I have issues but. Not this.”

 

“Should I… tell her?” Keith was tempted to find Shiro’s cell phone. Then again, it had a password, and he didn’t know how to use cell phones, so finding it wouldn’t do much. “Are you okay?”

 

“Don’t tell her,” Shiro said, sitting up too quickly. Keith prepared himself to attempt to catch Shiro in case he passed out. “Ugh. Fuck. I’m sorry I’m doing this. I shouldn’t… You shouldn’t have to deal with me like this.”

 

“It’s okay,” Keith said. It was an automatic response. “You’ve dealt with me plenty, so, it’s not a problem.”

 

Shiro made a sound and Keith pushed himself into a sitting position.

 

“Is it about your parents?” Keith asked. “It’s okay. I don’t blame you for anything that’s happened.”

 

Shiro stayed quiet.

 

“We both have our pasts,” Keith continued, “and we’ve both done things we regret. You’re always the one comforting me, so can’t I be the one to comfort you, when you need it? I mean, I know I’m a vampire, and it’s kinda weird, but I don’t dislike you.”

 

That weird feeling began to spread through Keith’s chest, and he inhaled, trying to force himself to relax. It was the same confusing, anxious emotion that he’d felt days ago. Why was it reoccurring now? His fangs began to ache and Keith realized it would be so, so easy to simply bite into Shiro’s neck and drink.

 

“I’m going to sleep,” Shiro announced, though quietly. Keith swallowed, and then got to his feet to help Shiro up, and walked with Shiro back to his bedroom. The man half-collapsed on his bed, and Keith had to peel his eyes away from Shiro’s throat, how _good_ the blood would taste, and he grabbed the blankets and threw them over Shiro’s body before making a very bad decision.

 

It made his heart race, and Shiro would probably hate him for it, but Keith didn’t care. Retreating to his room to grab his pillow, he snuck back into Shiro’s room, circled the bed, and quietly crawled onto the mattress besides the human. He told himself it was for both of their sakes – if Shiro needed help, he would be there, and if Keith needed to be woken up from another nightmare, Shiro would be able to do so.

 

Keith rested his head on his pillow and watched Shiro, making sure the man was fast asleep, before closing his eyes.

 

* * *

 

Shiro awoke groggily the next morning, barely aware of Keith’s presence next to him on the bed. He rolled onto his side, slowly comprehended what had happened during the night, and groaned. _Shit_. He’d messed up. His drunk-self had apparently decided to go into Keith’s room to wake him up from another nightmare, exposing the fact that he’d been drinking. Allura wouldn’t approve; she would take Keith and move him to another host, and Shiro didn’t particularly want that to happen now that he felt closer to the vampire. Keith was a vampire but he was _special_ , somehow. Shiro couldn’t place how, or why, Keith was so different from anyone else he’d ever met, but he _was_.

 

Keith faced him, still asleep on the bed. He seemed so peaceful – it would be a shame to wake him now, but Shiro didn’t know what else to do. He barely remembered going back into his room, and didn’t remember Keith entering the room afterwards. A sudden thought crossed his mind and he swore beneath his breath.

 

Had Keith… Had they _done_ anything? God, he hoped not.

 

Getting out of bed, he crossed his room and walked into the bathroom, flipping on the light. He looked at his reflection and sighed in relief. No bite marks.

 

“Shiro?”

 

He turned around. Keith still lay in his bed, gazing at him, and the vampire yawned.

 

“Why are you in here?” Shiro found himself asking.

 

“I can leave,” Keith said quickly, suddenly very awake. “I should have asked. I thought it would be easier for us to, um, keep an eye on each other, because of my nightmares and your drunkenness.”

 

“Ah.” It would have made sense, maybe even been acceptable… if Keith was human. Shiro immediately reprimanded himself for that thought, and was about to say something else, but Keith had already stood and walked towards the door. “Keith, I’m not angry.”

 

“I know.” Keith paused at the doorway. “I’m just… I have a lot on my mind, I guess.”

 

Shiro was tempted to ask what, exactly, Keith was thinking about, but decided against it. Instead, it was Keith who spoke again.

 

“I think… I want you to treat me like a human. Pretend that I’m a human. I know I’m not, but… if you could just treat me like how you treat other people, it would mean a lot.”

 

“Okay.” Could he do that? Treat Keith as a human? Not in public, not in front of other people. It would never be accepted, but he found himself replying regardless, not thinking of the consequences. “Okay. I can do that.”

 

“You will?” Keith asked, sounding incredulous. He turned to look at Shiro, black hair messy and unkempt, the edge of his lip curved into a small smile.

 

Guilt spread through Shiro like wildfire. Could he stay true to what he had said? Most likely, no. It would be dangerous for both of them, especially Keith, if people took notice of their dynamic.

 

“We’ll have to restrict it to the apartment,” he said carefully. “Allura won’t be able to know either. If people learn of how I treat you, things could become very bad, very quickly.”

 

“That’s okay,” Keith said. His smile widened. “I can work with that.”

 

“I’m sorry for getting drunk last night,” Shiro apologized. He felt that he needed to clear things up with Keith as quickly as possible, especially given what had happened during the night. He vaguely remembered going into Keith’s room to wake him up from another nightmare, and he’d made it before Keith had managed to hurt himself. He knew that Allura would want to know everything about the dream. “I shouldn’t have forced you to deal with me while I was drunk. I won’t do it again.”

 

“Aren’t you going to ask what my dream was about?” Keith asked, as if reading his mind. His voice was monotonous. “I know you’ll want to know, so I’ll just tell you. A man. He was tall, and looked like he was in his fifties. He kept repeating: ‘You are going to entertain me’.”

 

“You don’t have to-”

 

“No,” Keith said. He walked towards Shiro, who barely stopped himself from taking a step back. “He used a hot metal rod and stuck it to my thigh. Before that, there were the wolves. He _knew_ the woman that tortured me in the first dream. Shiro, he _knew_ her.”

 

The implications of what that meant dawned upon Shiro. “You’re having reoccurring dreams.”

 

“Yes. I don’t think it’s normal. I’ve never had reoccurring dreams before.” Keith’s brow furrowed and he stared at Shiro, gaze intent. “They keep calling me a sinner. I don’t know what it means, but the fact that the man and the woman are together on this means something.”

 

Shiro was at a loss for words. “But how?”

 

Keith sat down on the bed and crossed his legs before scowling at the floor. “Descendants of Cain. There are a few of us – a very small few – who are, as they would say, superior to the rest of us. Maybe their blood is closer to Cain’s, but I’m not sure. I heard when I was a kid that they can mentally manipulate those around them. They’re called Progenitors.”

 

_Descendants of Cain. The Eden Project. Progenitors. This doesn’t make any fucking sense._

 

“Keith, I need you to tell me everything you know. Everything. About the war, about Cain, about Progenitors.”

 

Keith blinked. “I mean, that’s about it. I don’t know much about the war. I know that vampires lost and that they stripped away our rights, but I don’t know the details.”

 

“Do you know how it was caused?” Shiro asked. Keith shook his head, no. “A vampire killed a refugee child from the United States.”

 

“Why?” Keith really didn’t know. Perhaps the sanctuary hadn’t taught them anything. Shiro wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

 

“I don’t know,” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Fuck, too much was happening all at once. How did Keith know what he knew? And why did he _not_ know anything about the war? Again, he thought: it didn’t make sense. “I’m going to have to tell Allura what you’ve told me.”

 

“Okay,” Keith said quietly.

 

Shiro wondered what went through Keith’s mind. Sometimes he was afraid or angry, but most of the time he was just awkward and unsure of what to do. Perhaps it was the lingering effects of the Eden Project – Keith’s purpose, simply put, had been to cause an uprising, and whether he knew it or not, he may have lost a sense of being after his release from the laboratory. Keith was like a military dog that had been retired early: he kept searching for something, but he didn’t know what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um MHA is amazing and I highly recommend it

**Author's Note:**

> Just realized how short this chapter was... I believe the others are longer. Comments, questions, feedback = Welcome, as long as it is appropriate. Rating may change.


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